Usda Finds Cash For Canker

March 14, 1986|By Anne Groer and Jerry Jackson of The Sentinel Staff

The U.S. Agriculture Department will give Florida $11.1 million to help reimburse citrus growers and nursery owners who have not yet been paid for trees burned in the canker-eradication program, federal and state officials said Thursday.

About 500 Florida growers and nursery owners eligible for about $10 million in reimbursement could be receiving checks within the next few weeks, state canker officials in Winter Haven said.

''It's fantastic news,'' said Gary Mahon, owner of a citrus nursery in northwestern Orange County. Mahon is owed $800,000 for 1.7 million plants destroyed late last year when canker was detected at his 60-acre nursery near Zellwood.

Mahon said he is preparing to replant and needs the money to pay off debts. ''I've been living on borrowed money,'' he said.

Thursday's announcement by the USDA in Washington came four weeks after the agency stunned Florida officials by ending financial assistance for the canker program, effective March 31. The USDA said it had exhausted its financial resources because of the federal government's budget-tightening measures. Moreover, the agency gave no indication at the time that it was going to pay off the IOUs that have been accumulating since October.

The $11.1 million allocation was taken from the budget of an Iowa research laboratory after a series of high-level government meetings, officials said. The money will pay debts owed by the USDA, which had agreed to cover 50 percent of the canker program's eradication and reimbursement expenses through March.

Although the federal Office of Management and Budget did not want to provide the $11.1 million, members of Florida's congressional delegation said, the administration instructed the USDA to find the money after the lawmakers met with President Reagan, White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan and newly appointed Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng.

It is now up to the Florida Legislature and the citrus industry to come up with matching money if Florida wants Congress to approve additional federal contributions after March 31, according to U.S. Reps. Andy Ireland of Winter Haven, Tom Lewis of West Palm Beach and Sen. Paula Hawkins of Maitland. The Republican lawmakers made the announcement after meeting Thursday with Lyng.

''We are not putting up any more money until the state puts up its share,'' said Hawkins, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. ''The Legislature needs to look at this issue closely. This is a lifeblood industry of Florida. We don't want it to move to Brazil.''

Florida legislators said they have been unable to develop a firm budget plan for combating canker because the state has been waiting for the federal government to provide more guidance on what kind of canker program would be acceptable.

The USDA has said that it would ban fresh-citrus shipments from Florida if the state does not maintain an adequate program to eradicate the bacterial disease, widely considered one of the worst citrus diseases in the world. Canker, which scars fruit and weakens trees, is difficult to eradicate because there is no scientifically accepted cure.

More than 20 million citrus trees, most of them in nurseries, have been burned since September 1984, when canker was detected in the state for the first time in more than 50 years. The disease now has been found in 18 nurseries and two immature groves.

Vicky Boyd, spokeswoman for the State Canker Project director in Winter Haven, said that $8.8 million of the $11.1 million in federal money would be used as partial reimbursement to growers, who have not been paid since the USDA halted payments in October. The remainder would be used to pay USDA's share of the canker program's operating expenses since October, Boyd said.

Florida has about $625,000 budgeted to help pay part of the state's share of reimbursement costs, but the state still needs another $1.2 million to pay its full share, Boyd said. The Legislature during its spring session is expected to consider canker project financing to continue the effort.

Boyd said that registered letters explaining the reimbursement program would be mailed to eligible growers, possibly within the next few days. The letters must be signed and returned to the canker office in Winter Haven before reimbursement checks can be mailed, Boyd said.

The state and federal governments have spent about $40 million on the canker eradication and reimbursement program.